THE LEAGUE’S only Rookie of the Year-Most Valuable Player, Benjie “The Tower of Power” Paras leads the cast of basketball personalities who will be inducted into the prestigious PBA Hall of Fame.
Paras heads the list and will be joined in the fifth batch of Hall of Fame inductees, by his former teammate, Ronnie Magsanoc, Lim Eng Beng and champion head coach, Ed Ocampo. The quartet gained entry into the elite circle after they gained the required number of votes after an evaluation by the Honors Committee headed by none other than league commissioner Chito Salud and chairman, Robert Non.
Missing the cut were Arnie Tuadles, former import Sean Chambers, former longtime league official Elmer Yanga, referee Igmidio Cahanding, and media man Fred Luarca.
The new members of the Hall of Fame will be honored during the opening of the PBA’s 2014 season or in a separate event before the said opening.
Immediate PBA past chair Mert Mondragon, incoming chair Ramon Segismundo and media practitioners Bobby Barreiro, Ding Marcelo, Joe Antonio and Lorenzo Lomibao Jr. were the other members of the Honors Committee that screened the list of candidates made by the Selection Committee. Each nominee needed a minimum of five votes to hurdle the strict guidelines of the Hall of Fame procedure.
Paras is easily the top choice in the 2013 batch with his fabled career. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio